[Event "43rd GM 2015"] [Site "Dortmund GER"] [Date "2015.07.04"] [Round "6"] [White "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Black "Hou Yifan"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D31"] [WhiteElo "2805"] [BlackElo "2676"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "77"] [EventDate "2015.06.26"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 Bb4 4. a3 {Caruana is in an attacking mood today as he goes for the a3 variation in the Nimzo. One cannot really say that this is a Nimzo because the knight is still not on f6 and the pawn is on d5. But after a few moves it transposes into the Nimzo.} Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 Nf6 6. e3 c6 $5 {This line is not played very often. Just around 70 games in the database. But this is one of the favourite lines of Yu Yangyi and was also played by Hou Yifan against Lin in 2010. The main idea for Black is 0-0 and then follow it up with b6-Bb7 or Ba6.} (6... O-O {is the main line and readers will recall the famous Botvinnik-Capablanca game that was played in AVRO 1938.} 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Bd3 c5 9. Ne2 b6 10. O-O Ba6 {with a complex and interesting battle.}) 7. a4 $5 {A wise move by Caruana. Not only can he develop his bishop to a3 but a move like b6 can be met with a5 putting pressure on the black queenside.} (7. Bd3 {was nicely countered by Yu against Aleksandrov with the move} e5 $1 8. dxe5 dxc4 9. Bxc4 Qxd1+ 10. Kxd1 Ng4 11. Ke1 Nxe5 12. Be2 Bf5 {When black had already equalised comfortably. 0-1 (91) Aleksandrov,A (2554)-Yu,Y (2675) Dubai 2014}) 7... O-O 8. Nf3 b6 9. cxd5 exd5 {This is a much better recapture than taking with the c-pawn because later Black can break with c6-c5.} (9... cxd5 { optically looks much better but after} 10. Ba3 Re8 11. Bb5 Bd7 12. Bd3 Nc6 13. O-O $14 {White is just better.}) 10. Bd3 Ba6 11. O-O c5 12. Ne5 Re8 13. a5 Bxd3 14. Nxd3 Nc6 $6 {An odd move by Hou Yifan. She could have comfortably developed her knight to d7 but instead she chooses this square in order to clarify the situation with regards to the a5 pawn.} (14... Nbd7 $11 {was very comfortable for Black.}) 15. axb6 axb6 16. Rxa8 Qxa8 17. dxc5 bxc5 18. Nxc5 { Black has some compensation because the c1 bishop doesn't have a good square to go to but Hou Yifan has to play very accurately now.} Ne5 $6 (18... Ne4 $5 19. Nxe4 (19. Qxd5 $6 Re5 $1 20. Qxe4 Rxe4 21. Nxe4 Qa5 $15) 19... dxe4 20. c4 Ne5 21. Qd4 Qc6 22. Bb2 Qxc4 23. Rc1 Qxd4 24. Bxd4 Nd3 {would have been the best way to play for Black.}) 19. Nd3 $1 {A strong move in order to relocate the knight to f4 and put pressure on the d5 pawn.} Nc4 20. Nf4 (20. Nb4 {was also possible.}) 20... h6 21. Qd4 Re4 22. Qc5 Re5 23. f3 $1 {Taking away the crucial e4 square from the rook so that the queen cannot be disturbed on d4.} Qa2 24. Qd4 {This is a clear case of reaching maximum activity and seeing no real way to improve your already well placed pieces. Black has her pieces well stationed but what next?} Qa4 25. h4 $1 {The logical plan now is to expand on the kingside. Look how the f3 pawn does a wonderful job of limiting the black pieces.} Qb5 26. g4 {Hou Yifan would be under tremendous pressure here. She is a pawn down and unable to improve her position, while Caruana is slowly but steadily taking over.} Nd7 27. Nd3 Re6 28. Kg2 Ndb6 {The knight has wandered away a little too far away to b6 from the kingside. Caruana now tries to attack the kingside and the weakest point i.e g7.} 29. Nf4 Re5 30. Nh5 {The knight is so menacingly placed on h5 that Black will have to give up her rook for it. Threats include moves like f4 but maybe stronger is Nxg7 followed by f4.} Qb1 31. e4 $1 {Hawk eyed Caruana does not let the opportunity slip by. He forces a black pawn to the e4 square so that later he can play f4 and there would be no Qe4+.} (31. f4 $6 Qe4+ 32. Kf2 Qxd4 33. cxd4 Re6 {gives black some hopes to defend the inferior endgame.}) 31... dxe4 32. f4 $1 Rxh5 {Black is forced to give up an exchange but she doesn't have enough compensation for it. The rest is really a matter of technique for Caruana as he quickly wraps up the game.} 33. gxh5 Qc2+ 34. Kh1 Qe2 35. Rg1 Qf3+ 36. Rg2 g6 37. hxg6 Qf1+ 38. Kh2 Qxc1 39. Qf6 {One could say that Hou Yifan's play was not up to the mark in this game but what I found amazing was Caruana playing extremely accurate chess. His manouevres of Nc5-d3-f4, and expansion on kingside with h4 followed by g4 and the central break e4 coupled with f4 were supremely high level concepts.} 1-0